Hexes and Heists
by Kingtchalla1
Summary: Gaius needs Henry's help to break into the home of a stuck-up noble. They're having a great time, but Gaius isn't so sure he's doing the right thing...
1. Chapter 1

Hexes and Heists

By kingtchalla

Chapter 1: Sour Deal

 **(AN: Credit to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems for creating these characters and the Fire Emblem series. I do not own the copyright to these characters.)**

The nobleman strode proudly across the streets of Ylisse, heading towards his lavish estate. Along his way, the poor scattered. They knew of his importance as an adviser to the Exalt, and of his proud stature. What did he care about them? The noble continued on his way, stopping only to give some beggars a haughty glance.

He was completely unaware that he was being followed.

Gaius tightened his headband around his orange hair and crept further down the alley he was hiding in. He'd been trailing this man for several minutes, and so far nobody had noticed him. Gaius had long ago learned that a good thief stays as inconspicuous as possible, so he used his average height and dark clothing to his advantage. This fancy noble clearly hadn't learned that. Tall and thin, with close-cropped white hair and a ruffled cravat, he had a striking figure that was impossible not to track in a crowd.

The thief had been planning this heist for weeks. He had heard the stories about how this man had tried to oppress the poor, slapping them with ridiculous taxes and generally treating them like trash. Gaius had tried to convince some old buddies to assist him, but they had all refused, afraid of the power he had in court. Still, important or not, Gaius felt like someone had to take him down a peg, and he might as well be the one to do it.

He had never liked nobles. Who did they think they were, flaunting their fancy birthright like it made them something special? It was nothing but a insignificant title in front of their name, and they thought it made them superior. They'd never been forced to break into houses and pickpocket market stalls just to make sure they had a meal on the table.

Only two nobles had ever earned Gaius's respect. Chrom, leader of the Shepherds, had at first seemed as stuck-up as all the rest of them. But his leadership skills were admirable. And after a few nights on the town, Gaius had gotten to know his awkward human side.

And then there was Maribelle.

Gaius shook his head. No time to get distracted, he thought. The noble had already turned the corner out of sight.

Cursing his carelessness, Gaius stuck a lollipop in his mouth before pursuing. Sweets were one of his few pleasures in life. They gave him a necessary burst of energy to keep alert on long stakeouts or battles. They were also quite tasty. Gaius's mouth started to salivate just thinking about all the sweets he could buy with the money he stole from this noble. Honey tarts for life! He could live like a king after the war was over.

The noble had finally made it to his mansion. It was a sight, Gaius had to admit. Three stories tall, with an ornate fence surrounding it and well-groomed gardens all around. Just the kind of place a stuck-up jerk would enjoy.

Gaius had studied the noble's schedule, so he knew he was only here to check the mail. Once he had left, Gaius surveyed for entry points. A tall oak stretched over the fence, leaving a clear path onto the grounds. He had a lot of experience climbing trees to mine beehives, so it was almost childishly easy to hop the fence and make it to the heavy mahogany door.

He paused for a moment, psyching himself up. He knew Chrom wouldn't approve, of course. It was generally frowned upon for the leader of an army to let his soldiers rob random government officials. That was why he hadn't told anyone in the army. Still, he was sure he was doing what was right to avenge the poor the noble oppressed.

Reaching into the folds of his cloak, Gaius procured a set of lock picks. Inserting a simple feeler into the lock, he was surprised to discover how simple it was. Three tumblers, perfectly aligned to be cracked with the most basic of picks. It took roughly ten seconds before the door swing wide open. He triumphantly crept into the threshold.

Suddenly, there was a burst of light, and he was thrown back by some invisible force.

Once he got over his dazed shock, he registered what had just happened. The light had been made up of runes like those he saw whenever one of the mages cast a spell. Evidently, the mansion was protected by some enchantment.

No wonder the lock was so easy, he thought grimly. With that enchantment up, there's no need to bother with other security.

Still, Gaius was nothing if not persistent. If he wanted to break into this house, he would , come hell or high water. All he needed was a strong mage to break the enchantment- preferably one who wouldn't mind a little illegal activity. At that moment, a thin smirk crosses his face.

He had just the guy in mind.

* * *

 **AN: Thank you for reading this chapter! To know that you've made it this far means a lot to me. This is my first fanfic, so any critique is welcome.**

 **Here are some shout-outs! I'd like to thank Mr-Watch, whose wonderful story _Be Careful What You Say_ inspired me to begin writing Awakening fanfiction in the first place. I'd also like to thank my beta readers and all the lovely people in the Discord chat. And once again, thanks to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems for creating this awesome series. **

**I've always liked Awakening's characters, especially Gaius and Henry. They're two of the most morally complex characters in the game, so I thought that it would be interesting to see how they would interact. I can't wait until you see Henry! He's going to be a blast to write.**

 **Next chapter should be up in a few days! In the meantime, please leave a review to express your thoughts, or to give any praise or criticism you might have.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Lost Caws

Henry was getting bored. It had been three days since the last Risen ambush, and he was missing out on his weekly dismemberment quota.

Sighing, the young mage flopped onto his cot and surveyed his room in the barracks. In front of the wall directly opposite his cot was a table containing half-finished experiments on severed Risen limbs. The wall with the door was covered by bookshelves containing his favorite tomes and spells containing especially gruesome curses. The other wall was bare except for a window, currently closed.

Henry examined these items, trying to determine which one would be a serviceable distraction. He was just about to test out a hex that caused a person's chest to spontaneously sprout mushrooms when a thump on his window caught his attention. Glancing up, he saw that one of his pet ravens had crashed into the glass.

He chuckled- not at the thought of pain, as he would have if this were a human, but at the endearing clumsiness of his pet. He was much closer to ravens, and indeed to animals in general, than he was to humans. He knew on sight that this one was Vasto, named after one of his friends in the Plegian army.

The mage opened the window and fed Vasto a handful of birdseed. As the bird greedily pecked at his dinner, Henry noticed a letter tied to his leg. This struck him as odd, as nobody had ever contacted him using this method. Unrolling the scroll, Henry read this message:

 _Dear Henry,_

 _This might be a little sudden, but I'm coming to your room at 6:30 today. Wait for me until I get there. And make sure not to tell the others about this, okay?_

 _Gaius_

Henry frowned momentarily. Why did Gaius want to talk with him, and why in secret? This scowl quickly became a wide grin. Whatever it was, he'd have a friend to chat with! How exciting!

* * *

At half past 6, Gaius stealthily crept into the room. He leaned against the wall with the window and glanced around shiftily. Henry briefly wondered what Gaius was hiding. Did he expect a Risen to jump out at him? Henry giggled momentarily, picturing that dramatic scene.

"Hey-o, Gaius!" he called. "How's everything going with you? Done any cool assassinations lately?"

Gaius once again gave a nervous glance to both sides of the room. "Who, me? Oh, I'm just fine! Wonderful, in fact! No illegal activity planned at all!" He stuck a lollipop in his mouth and began to chew vigorously.

Henry gave him a puzzled look. "You know there's no one else here, right? It's not like I've made a bunch of magical clones ready to pop out and murder you at any moment. Ooh, that sounds fun! Think I could pull it off?"

Gaius let out a sigh of relief. His tense shoulders relaxed to a slouch, and his chewing became slower and more even. He plopped down on the cot beside Henry and stared him directly in the eye. "Well, if there's nobody around, I guess I can be straight with you," he said. "How much do you know about enchantments?"

Henry's face split into a wide grin. "Oh, almost everything! I'm the best at enchanting? What do you want me to cast a spell on? Ooh, I know! You want to to grow cabbages out of your ears!"

Gaius's lollipop drooped in his mouth, which was growing slacker by the second. "Nothing that, um, disturbing," he said. "I need you to break an enchantment."

Henry pursed his lips. "Oh. That isn't as fun."

"Not everything in life is fun, pal," Gaius retorted. "Anyway, I'm trying to break into this old noble's house. The problem is, he has an enchantment around it, so I can't get in the door. I need you to break it."

Henry frowned. "Chrom not paying you enough? You can always kill some Risen for Bullions, you know."

"It's nothing like that!" Gaius explained. "My intentions are entirely honorable. I'm seeking vengeance for his cruel treatment of the poor."

"I don't have a concept of honor, so that means pretty much nothing to me," Henry said. "Never learned that in wizard school. But good on you! Why do you need me, though?"

Gaius sighed. He held up a hand and began to tick through names on his fingers. "Miriel and Ricken are loyal to a fault. Anything I do they'll report to Chrom, and since this is just a tiny bit illegal, that's not a good idea. Robin is too valuable to risk like this. And Tharja… well, to be honest, she freaks me out."

"Alright!" Henry said with a laugh. "But what reason do I have to go with your plan? This guy seems nasty, but I don't know him. I'm Plegian, remember?"

Gaius raised a finger. "Well, you see…" He trailed off, lowering the finger. "Huh. I didn't prepare for this. Uhh… you want to test your wizard skills?"

"Nah!" Henry replied. "I was voted Most Talented Mage three times before I even became an adult!"

"Crap," said Gaius, frowning. "Maybe you get the same visceral thrill from thievery as you do from killing?"

Henry contemplated this. "I wouldn't think so. Not enough blood involved."

Gaius sighed. "Well, that's all the easy options," he said. "I didn't really want to tell you this, but it doesn't look like I have much of a choice."

He took a deep breath, then stared off into a wall, a troubled look upon his face. "See, my dad was a poor carpenter. We barely made enough to get by, so he took out a loan from this noble. The problem was, this noble was a serious loan shark. He gave us loans with 10% interest rates, and when my father couldn't pay, he had him thrown in prison. I had to pay his freedom some day, so I turned to thieving. I still haven't payed it all off."

Henry had been raised by a giant wolf and taught at wizarding school. As such, he didn't have the most normal perception of emotion. Still, he knew that his friends were incredibly valuable to him. And the emotion boiling inside him at that moment was unmistakable.

Anger.

"Gaius," he said, "I want to hurt this man. _Very_ badly."

"Unfortunately, there's no pain on this trip," Gaius said with a shrug. "Still, does that mean you're in?"

Henry laughed. "Of course I'm in, silly! Just one question. How exactly does thieving work?"

You mean I just hired a guy with no thieving experience?" Gaius asked. He then smirked. "Well, fasten yourself in the saddle, Junior. You've got a lot to learn."

* * *

 **Sorry this took so long! I had to work up a lot of motivation to write this. I was a bit scared to write this chapter, as the last chapter didn't have any dialogue. I think it turned out well, though! Everyone seems fairly well in character.**

 **Thank you, anyone who read the first chapter! I never imagined such a positive response. Over 200 views is crazy for me, and I'm very grateful. I won't let any of you down!**

 **Be sure to leave a review! I'm always looking for feedback. I'm not really sure if I made this chapter long enough, so I want to hear your thoughts on that.**


	3. Chapter 3

Gaius pushed aside a rack of Killer Bows and frowned. He had been searching the equipment for more than an hour, but he couldn't find the item he was looking for. Not helping in this endeavor was the fact that Stahl had been on storeroom duty this week. The scatterbrained Shepherd had somehow managed to confuse the entire organization system by putting boxes full of the same items on opposite ends of the room.

The thief popped a bonbon into his mouth, the only useful thing he had found in this misadventure. He cracked open the chocolate coating and let the raspberry center ooze out over his tongue. A blissful smile managed to creep back on to Gaius's face. Still, this wasn't what he was looking for, so he threw up his hands in an acceptance of defeat and headed out to the courtyard where he was scheduled to meet with Henry.

It was 8:45, and Henry was waiting in the courtyard just east of the barracks, near the vegetable garden. He must have gotten bored waiting, because he was making shadow puppets on the barracks wall by the light of an Elfire tome. Gaius whistled to catch his attention.

"Hey-o, Gaius!" Henry shouted. "Want to make shadow puppets with me? Look, here's a Wyvern! Raarr, devour the townspeople!" He let out a disturbingly cheerful giggle.

"Um, that's not exactly my kind of activity. I prefer something with a little less… murderous delusion," Gaius said. He was admittedly a little frightened, but had hung around Henry long enough that he had learned to accept it. "Anyway, I have some bad news. I know you possess natural Thief aptitude, but we're fresh out of Second Seals. Looks like we'll have to train you the old-fashioned way."

"Well, that sounds a lot more fun!" said Henry, an ear-to-ear grin on his face. "What's the first lesson?"

"Good thing I prepared for this," said Gaius. He pulled a small box out of his cloak and opened it, revealing a set of intricate lockpicks. "A thief is worth nothing if he can't crack a lock. Otherwise, you'll never be able to get into all the fun places you aren't allowed to go." He gestured to a small door set into a wall of the barracks. "I locked the door to that storage closet earlier today. Your first task is to pick the lock on it."

"Ooh, sounds tricky! How do you do it?" Henry asked. "I never really lock doors. It makes it harder to escape if any of my Risen experiments go wrong."

"Take these lockpicks and I'll show you," Gaius replied. Henry plucked a pick from his hand and strode over to the door.

"Now, the first thing you'll want to do is insert the torquing wrench into the bottom of the lock. That'll raise the pins so the lockpick can… uh, Henry?"

Gaius looked up to find Henry standing next to the wide-open door. "How did you do that?" he asked incredulously. I haven't even gotten to the second step yet!"

"Nyah hah hah! I just used a basic unlocking spell. It's so much easier!" replied Henry.

Gaius raised an eyebrow. "You think you can just trivialize the whole thieving business with some hocus-pocus? This is hard, rewarding work. And let me get this straight. If you have an unlocking spell, why do I have to unlock every chest and door we come across?"

"Well, I'm usually too busy slaughtering our foes," said Henry.

Gaius sighed. "Whatever it is, you can't just breeze your way through a heist. These kinds of things require patience and dedication. If you aren't willing to work hard, you won't get anything out of it."

"But it would be so much easier…" Henry began.

"No, listen!" interjected Gaius. He was surprised by the passion building in his voice. Normally he tried to remain calm and impassive, but this was a subject he cared deeply for. "I don't think of thieving as just a job, something to make sure you can make ends meet. That's what it started at when my dad was arrested, but it's become so much more. It's almost an art form. It takes real talent to be able to sneak through a three-story mansion with guards and an owner with serious combat training without making a single sound. It takes talent to break open complicated triple-chamber locks in the heat of battle with arrows flying at your head! No amount of hocus-pocus will be able to match that level of dedication." He pulled the lollipop he had been chewing out of his mouth; his teeth had ground it to dust during his rant.

Henry was silent for a moment as the words sank into him. Finally, he spoke, hesitation in his voice. "Now that I think about it, you might be right. I feel the same way about my magic. I normally don't bother with training, but for something like this, it's worth it. How do we get started?"

Gaius, overjoyed, clapped him on the back. "Glad you asked! All you have to do is put the flat pin into the lock to raise the bars, then insert the ridged pin and jiggle it around.

Henry followed these directions, and the lock swung open with little resistance. "Nya ha, that was pretty cool! Did you see how it just swung open like that? Maybe you're right about this after all."

"Great work, Junior!" cried Gaius. "Unfortunately for you, that was the easy part…"

* * *

The following weeks brought exasperation, irritation, and bruises to both parties. They couldn't have been happier. Gaius was pleased with Henry's progress, which was growing at a remarkably rapid pace. His work ethic had done a complete 180 from his earlier lack of effort, and he now seemed to absorb any information given to him. Before long, Gaius had taught him everything from sleight of hand to deception of others, which he was especially good at due to his natural bluntness and honesty making any lie he did tell less expected. The one thing he didn't seem to excel at was climbing. Physical exertion wasn't his strong suit, due to his frail mage body, and he spent more time falling out of trees that anything else. Henry didn't seem to mind, though Gaius believed this may have been because he enjoyed the pain. Still, the acrobatic portion was Gaius's part in the heist anyway, so the Thief wasn't particularly concerned.

Mostly, Gaius was just excited to be able to share his skills with someone. The scars of his profession were easily visible, both literally and figuratively, and Gaius was typically reluctant to show either. The gangs he had worked with prior to his recruitment were a shifty lot, and Gaius had quickly learned not to share too much information. Otherwise, your so-called friends might end up with your loot in his hands and his knife in your back. And while his fellow Shepherds might appreciate his humor and household skills, he could sense they still weren't entirely comfortable with his line of work. Gaius tried not to show it, but it stung, especially coming from a certain noble girl. But Henry's blithe spirit and personal troubles made him easy to trust. Despite his natural distrust of others, Gaius couldn't help but love the goofy kid.

That's why Gaius was uncharacteristically ecstatic when he called Henry to meet in his room a month later. The young Mage swept in with his typical dark energy and plopped eagerly down on Gaius's cot. "So what's the lesson today, Gaius? Do I finally get to learn how to sneak attack enemies."

Gaius smirked. "Not today, Junior. I really think you know enough to have graduated from the Unofficial Gaius School of Theft."

Henry looked a little crestfallen, likely do to the lack of stabbing in the curriculum. This was only momentary, and he looked up hopefully. "So what's the next step?"

Gaius leaned forward and lowered his voice conspiratorially. "I think it's finally time to tell you the plan."

* * *

 **Guys, I am so sorry.**

 **This fic hasn't been updated in three months, and I feel like I owe you an explanation as to why. I've been trying to work on it for those three months, but two things have gotten in my way. At first, I thought I wouldn't gain much of an audience. I didn't really think anyone was paying attention to my writing, and that I should just give up. I was able to work through this with help from my Discord family, but then I was very busy with band and had very little time. It's finally done, and I'll try to update more regularly. Please forgive me.**

 **Leave a review if you want to help me improve! I was not able to get this chapter extensively betaread, so any input is great. If you know me from Discord or Reddit, you can also contact me there with your suggested edits. As always, thank you very much for reading!**


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